Automotive and industrial battery maker Exide expects to have a first mover advantage in organised lithium ion cell manufacturing in India.
The company’s management has informed market analysts at the earnings call that its lithium ion plant in Bangalore is progressing well with necessary approvals in place and construction underway.
Exide is setting up a 12GWh lithium ion cell manufacturing plant in Bangalore at an estimated project cost of Rs 6,000 crore in two phases. The company is already manufacturing lithium ion-based modules and packs at its plant in Gujarat.
“The project is progressing extremely well. All necessary permissions have been secured and site enabling work has been completed. On ground construction activity has been initiated and foundation laying work is progressing in full swing,” Exide managing director and CEO Subir Chakraborty said at the fourth quarter earnings call.
“Our factory perhaps will be the first such giga level factory which will come up. In the lithium ion space, the first mover advantage is huge. This is because it takes one-and-a-half to two years to homologate any product. We firmly believe Exide will have a huge first mover advantage.”
“The OEMs today are having to import batteries and that is a huge working capital requirement in an industry which is used to just in time operations.”
“Exide will be able to offer the same just-in-time facilities that they are used to rather than having to predict sales and import and all the uncertainties around freight and logistics and everything else,” Chakraborty said.
He also said that around 300-400 experts from China and other places will be involved in developing the lithium ion cell manufacturing project in the initial phases which will allow the company to quickly hit the ground running. The company has already entered into a multi-year technical collaboration with Chinese firm SVOLT Energy for lithium ion cell manufacturing.
“I believe we will be far ahead in comparison with others who are also in this particular game,” Chakraborty said.
